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So, I had my wisdom teeth out two Wednesdays ago...so instead of getting to go to class on Tuesday, they wanted me to work since I had to have the rest of the week off for recovery... So there go two...and then this week they had me work on Tuesday again (for some odd reason)...today I had off but they called and asked if I could come in. I said no.

And I was glad I did. Class was fun tonight.

Did some riokata dori kokyuho to start with...I personally think that one's boring, but it's still useful. But then I fell with my heel under my tail bone and that hurt the rest of class.

We did shomenuchi sankyo kokyuho (I guess that's how you'd say it) next...I worked with Sam...that was a whole bunch of fun, because we both got it quickly and started going at a good pace. Amazingly, after two weeks of nothing aikido beyond some stretches and reading Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere (which is a great book), I was going awesome rolls and breakfalls tonight! I'm not sore from them, for once! (Well, left shoulder is a bit sore, from the end of class...but up until then...)

Did some jo stuff tonight. It was interesting, but I still prefer bokken.

At the end of weapons class we did kokyudosa again...I worked with Josh and he said he wanted to try to get out of my pin...so I said be my guest. He got out of the first one, but when he tried to wriggle away, I managed to get a sort of arm bar on him where I was on top of his
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What is it with my internet connection never working after class? Anyway, here's Thursday's entry...

At least that's what my body's saying I was tonight. I took ukemi for sensei on our three of our four techniques we went over first hour...one being shomenuchi iriminage...heavy on the nage. Ouch.

Weapons class was fun tonight. We had someone drop in who had taken aikido earlier and he practiced with us. Did some cool bokken stuff...where you shomen, then both tenkan, then do one knee strike and then tsuki, but the defender sidesteps and is left with the opening.

Did some jo stuff, then did ushiro kotegaeshi with a tanto. I worked with the visitor guy (another John)...I could tell he had done it before a bit. But, at the end of each one when I was uke he kept stabbing me... Not that it hurt, but rather that I don't think that would be the thing to do... Oh well...I'll just stick with a disarm.

Yeah, so...anyway... I'll just go swing my bokken at some air or something.

Ow. I hurt my shoulder today. Ow. I was helping my sis with rolls and I tried to see what she was doing, so I imitated her and ended up trying to forcefully plant my left shoulder in the mat. Doesn't feel like it'll hurt for very long...maybe a few days. But it hurts now.

Didn't have class last Tuesday; due to the hurricane, the malls were closed...had some trailer homes damaged around the area and two dead...but not as bad as they feared last week.

Weapons class went well today. Did bokken stuff and tanto stuff. I did 40 squats (don't remember the name for it) and John said that was good for the first time we'd practiced it.

Yeah, this is kind of short, but I had to work this morning, because the morning guy had a hangover and didn't show...so that wore me out. I'm going to have to get it together when college starts, or I'll be a zombie 24/7.

Meh, whatever. Did some kotegaeshi today...always fun. Going for the shower now, bro just got out.

Well, I'm catching the cold that my brother has. Wasn't too bad tonight, but I had a headache, so I skipped tenchi nage.

Well, first off...something FINALLY clicked with my rolls... Not sure what it was...either holding my arm higher over my head...curling up tighter...or pushing off harder. Whatever it was, it works!

Normally I'm sick of rolls after only twice around the mats...but tonight while they were doing tenchi nage, sensei said I could work on rolls (at my request), so I did rolls almost non stop for twenty minutes (had to stop to let my inner ear settle down a few times). Anyway, I was pumped about that, so I did it until I couldn't stand up upon finishing the roll from the dizzieness.

Weapons class was tonight, after our "normal" class... We did ikkyo, nikyo, and sankyo with the jo and then some kind of freestyle bokken time for about ten minutes (continued after class). Jo is cool, but bokken is just...I dunno...it's just plain cool. The stance(s), the movements...the grace (no, not mine...sensei's heh ). I think I, too, am in love with the sword.

Well, sore from all my rolling...even with my slight improvements, I still managed to hurl myself against the floor too hard a few times. Meh...no pain, no gain...practice makes better.

Anyway...we also did ryotedori gote gaeshi tonight...one of my favorites. Worked with Josh...he likes bending elbows the wrong way. Ouch. Punk. Heh. Well, I gave what I got.

Well, I slacked off a bit on TUesday...but I had a friend spending the night after class, so I had to entertain my guest. That class went well.

Before class I was asking sensei about kaiten nage...we had worked on doing it from shomen uchi on TUesday...and I was trying to remember how to do it from morote dori, but couldn't. So he helped jog my memory by throwing me into the mat a few times.

Today was great... I did tenchi nage with Sam...we got going really fast, to where he would just barely grab me before hitting the ground. Sensei was watching and smiling...

We did a version of irimi nage...but I can't remember which one...kind of hazy...hmm...

At the end of our normal class, we worked on an elbow pin. That one was really cool! I felt like sensei was about to rip my arm out of socket a few times. I worked on that one with Sam, and we were trying different escapes (not many worked!) and stuff. That was sweet. After class, a guy from the karate class asked me to show it to him, so I happily pinned him. He thought it was cool.

Worked with the jo tonight. Actually...we didn't have enough to go around...so I ended up doing most of the solo stuff with a bokken. Hey, it's the form that's important, not the fact that if it had been a real sword I wouldn't be typing this now.

The jo was really neat, though I think I like the bokken better. John (who teaches the weapons section) prefers bokken while sensei prefers jo, so we're going to see a
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We FINALLY got to do tsuki kote gaeshi Not very fluid, but, hey, that was the first time I actually got to practice catching a punch. Could have done that a lot longer.

Weapons class was cool. John taught it. We did ikkyo and nikyo with bokken (after killing my knees with squats).

I enjoyed ikkyo and nikyo...though I wasn't very good at them... John said it's a good thing I don't live in feudal Japan...

We did shomen uchi bokken dori kokyo nage. That one was fun. I worked with Josh (by this time, Jeremy's sunburned back was hurting so he had to take a break). Then we did shomen uchi bokken dori shiho nage... that was way cool, too.

We worked on one thing where you smack the tip of their bokken aside and lung for their throat...and then when they tried it on you, you'd go under their swat and sidestep to get inside their bokken. Worked with Josh again on that one.

We finished up with shihogi (I think, anyway), with two attackers. Enjoyed that one, too. I'd like to see it done with more attackers (but we hardly have enough people who know what they're doing to do that).

Had my first near injury today. During ryokatadori kokyonage with sensei (remember my rolls form the right side? That is, they are horrible? Yeah...) it was alright for the first one when I rolled on the left side, but when he threw me on the right side, I messed up my roll (before I hit the mat) so I almost did a handstand... And then I did it
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Two classes in one entry, that is. My internet died after class last Thursday and I didn't think to write about last week until now. Can't even remember everything we did last Thursday. I know it was review, though.

One thing I do remember (because I loved it so much) was kata dori nikyo. Oh, man, that was so much fun! Enter, cut down on upturned elbow, tenkan, nikyo. I did it with John and he was showing me some ways to get out of the pin (though he knew how to keep me in one). I could have done that one all night. Well, until John demonstrated a different way to hold the arm (yeah, on me) and he pushed a bit too hard and my shoulder was sore the rest of class.

Anyway, today the judo class ran overtime, so sis and I did some jo practice in the back while waiting.

We started with ai hanmi irimi nage...that was was interesting. I don't think I did very well on it. I think I was too stiff.

Next we did morote dori ikkyo. I worked with Sam...and his elbows have about a 5 degree lienience with the bend. That is, his elbow will not bend unless you bend it "straight". It's weird...and it made it hard to bend his arm up so I could get the necessary leverage.

Still, the times I got it, it felt great and worked great! Sam was good at it, too, so he was doing some mat cleaning with me.

Then we did two where you cross step and make like shiho nage, but then you stop, turn, and enter behind, pulling them over. I worked with Jeremy, and he kept flopping ar
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First we did something that I can't remember the name for. From katatedori you cross step in, then take a step forward and diagonal and turn your wrist over, so they loose their grip. Pretty cool.

Did shihonage second, for about twenty minutes, it seemed. I like doing something a bunch like that, it lets me try stuff and see what works and what doesn't. As in catching Josh's gi sleeve in my face doesn't work, but I found that after you finish the movement (same hand, same foot thing), if you keep a hold on the wrist and pull back it really throws uke farther, almost like a kotegaeshi.

Worked on iriminage from mortedori. That was sweet. Gravity is my friend. I paired off with my sister for that one and she was really getting into it. Fun fun fun. My hip hurts.

Anyway, getting to the title of the entry...during kokyudosa at the end, I paired off with my sister again, and so we're going along, la de da, up, over, pin, up, over, pin, etc. Next thing I know she comes up but not high enough so when she started coming over to unbalance me, my hand slipped off her wrist and she slapped me in the face. I went with it (was still holding her other arm) and she started laughing hysterically.

I demonstrated to sensei what she did and he started cracking up, too. :]

Weapons class is going to start in 9 days (two Thursdays from today) and I'm pumped about that. Just the small bit of bokken and jo kata we did at the seminar was enough
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Just got back from the two day seminar with Kato Sensei. Four hours yesterday and two today. It was great.

For those of you who remember my story of how I got into aikido, I watched Kato's seminar last year and met Joel, who's now our sensei.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun! Got to do what John said was some pretty advanced stuff...some of it was hard enough for me to believe that. Kote Gaeshi was awesome...and when I did it with John as nage, he showed me how to do the hardfall from/for it.

We did tenchi-, irimi-, koshi-, shiho-, and kaiten-nage, all kinds of ikkyo, nikyo, and sankyo pins (sankyo hurts!)...information overload! But, like pretty much anything, being introduced to something makes it a hundred times easier to do next time.

Also I got to work with the bokken and jo for my first time. Kumitachi and kumijo was really cool...and watching Kato sensei do jokata while the rest of us white belts stood around and watched was cool, too. :]

My sister loved the bokken work and was good at it, but she kept tripping up on the jo stuff. I think I did decent except on the 5th teaching of jumijo, where you go back on the same side...I kept going on the wrong side and messing it up. Anyway *shrug* we're starting weapons in a week, so I'll be able to practice some more before working on it at home.

I have pictures, too, which I'll put up when I unload my camera. It was great. I'm sore. Mom wants me to do something with
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^Did I spell that right? Can't remember... Anyway, it's just about all we did. I got to be sensei's uke again tonight. Fun and riggerous, as usual.

I'm worn out from tonight...

On one waza I did with sensei with morote dori where you step back, irimi, then scoop your hand under their arms and throw them diagonaly. Hurt my elbow, once, because I held on too long. I know from watching videos that you're supposed to do a hard side breakfall when on the recieving end of that, but I couldn't figure out how do to them...

I think I got it twice on accident and did one roll and a few backfalls and on the last time I landed on my stomach...that hurt...a lot.

Anyway, besides being too knocked around to remember all we did right now (oh, did some tenkan practice at the end, too), turns out that I think I actually can go to the seminar here two weekends from now with Kato Sensei! That=sweet.

Anyway, I'm off to a shower and reasonable bed time...have to work next Thursday because someone's graduating and I've gotta work for him. So, until the seminar...